The duo will travel to Reno, Nev., to play the Pacific Coast League on July 17.

Six games after playing in the Florida State League all-star game last summer, Cody Asche was moved up a level to Double-A Reading.

With the major league trading deadline two weeks after the Triple-A All-Star Game later this month, could basically the same thing happen to the 23-year-old third baseman this summer?

Asche and IronPigs teammate Cesar Hernandez will make the trip to Reno, Nev., to represent the team in the annual mid-season showdown between the International and Pacific Coast leagues on July 17 at Aces Ballpark

Both were selected as reserves.

"I voted for both those guys," IronPigs manager Dave Brundage said. "I really felt, when I went up and down and looked at each position, I saw Cesar Hernandez as the best second baseman in the league, and I thought Cody Asche was the best third baseman in the league — overall, the complete package."

Wednesday night's game with Syracuse at Coca-Cola Park was delayed about an hour by rain during the seventh inning and ended too late for this edition.

Asche, in only his second full season since being drafted in the fourth round of the 2011 draft, is hitting .284 with eight homers and a team-high 48 RBIs in 81 games.

"You always feel good when you're honored alongside a bunch of great players in your league," Asche said. "I'm excited about it."

Hernandez, also 23 but in his seventh season after signing as a 16-year-old on July 2, 2006, is among the IL's leading hitters with 83 hits and a .308 average. He also has 26 steals, third-best in the league.

It's Hernandez's third all-star selection — he was his team's MVP in the 2010 New York-Penn League game, and was the Eastern Division's starting second baseman in the Eastern League game last season.

"Whether they made the all-star team or not, in my eyes they both have improved, they both are developing, and both are doing outstanding jobs," Brundage said. "But it's nice to be patted on the back, it's nice to rewarded and the chance to have the memories of being part of an all-star game."

The recognition, Brundage said, also should extend to the Phillies' minor league staff who worked with both throughout their rise up the system.

"They're not here and they don't' get to experience and see what I see on a daily basis," Brundage said. "It's a credit to our two young players but also to some of the people who have worked with them day in and day out who have worked with them during spring training and over the years."

"Anytime you get a guy moving his way up and making an all-star team it's a plus for everybody," said hitting coach Sal Rende, who was the minor league hitting coordinator for Hernandez's first four seasons before being assigned to the IronPigs staff in 2011. "That's our reward."

Asche jumped from short-season Williamsport to High-A Clearwater to start the 2012 season and was hitting .349 in 62 games when he was promoted to Reading on June 22.

After a slow start at Double-A, Asche finished with a .300 mark in 68 games. Many expected him to return to Reading this year but he played his way onto the Triple-A roster with a solid spring, both with the major league club as a non-roster invitee and after being sent back to the minor league camp, and has been one of the IronPigs' most consistent hitters this season.

With third baseman Michael Young among the candidates to be dealt if the Phillies go into a seller's mode as the July 31 deadline approaches, Asche could find himself wearing a Phillies uniform by the end of the season, although Brundage would like to see Asche and Hernandez, who was on the Phillies roster for 11 days after Chase Utley went on the disabled list, get a bit more development time with the IronPigs.

"They're both young, and I think they're in the right place," Brundage said. "They're doing their job here. Time will tell, and I think they will tell us when they're ready. Do I think they're going to be major league players? Absolutely. But they're learning here without rushing something or forcing something. Maybe we might have a different conversation in a couple months."

Although his overall ERA is still up at 4.67, Brundage said he feels Ethan Martin should've been a strong candidate for the all-star squad. Martin is one of three pitchers in the league with at least nine wins — the other two were selected to the team — and since May 1 the right hander is 8-1 with a 3.50 ERA in 11 starts, allowing 52 hits in 641/3 innings.

"You can make a case for him as a young guy who's improved to this point," Brundage said. "He probably flies a little bit under the radar because he's not in the top 10 in ERA, but sometimes those numbers are tough to get rid of. He had a couple of those outings early on that hurt that ERA."

The IronPigs have had at least two players in each of the all-star games in their history.

Getting their swings: With four games against Washington's Triple-A affiliate, IronPigs pitchers had to bat for themselves against Syracuse.